Ye Olde School Cafe’: The Infinity Gauntlet pt 3

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Ye Olde School Cafe’! This week will be the conclusion to the cosmic war entitled- The Infinity Gauntlet! If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that Thanos of Titan has stolen the six Infinity Gems and has been using them to re-write the universe as he sees fit. He was opposed for a short time by Earth’s heroes, but that ended miserably for them. They were essentially defeated, then transported away where they could do no harm. Thanos’ next battle however will prove to be the ultimate test against the cosmic elders of the universe! Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 if you aren’t caught up!

We first see Thanos standing in front of his next test of power. He’s opposed by Galactus, two Celestials, and all the other cosmic deities. Thanos quickly tells them to tread lightly in his presence, to which they respond with immediate action. Chronos uses his powers of time to try and send Thanos into the time-stream to confuse him. While that is happening, the two Celestials are being decimated by Thanos’ raw power. Thanos quickly uses the Time Gem to return to this time and then he shatters Chronos into a million pieces. Next, Lord Order and Master Chaos try to dichotomize the Titan, but he proves too powerful for that and dispatches them with ease. With just a wave of his hand, Mighty Galactus is no more, along with The Stranger, and Eon. Suddenly, Thanos feels conflicting emotions within himself. After being slightly confused though, he realizes that Mistress Love and Sire Hate are toying with his emotions. He incinerates them for their trouble but is surprised that he’s being assaulted by Hellfire. His buddy Mephisto tries to sneak in and grab the Infinity Gauntlet for himself. As Thanos is about to destroy Mephisto for his betrayal, he’s zapped by some kind of darkforce beam that separates the two of them. Thanos is shocked to see that Mistress Death has thwarted his actions, and this sends him into an emotional outburst that ends with all of Thanos cosmic enemies being trapped in a force bubble of sorts. Now he can think clearly about his next move…

In the next scene, we see Warlock and The Silver Surfer contemplating what to do while the cosmic battle is going on. Thanos is next confronted by Eternity himself. He tells Thanos that he is there to reclaim what is rightfully his. After a very quick battle, Thanos is triumphant and sits on his throne motionless in thought. We next see him make a huge mistake in using his astral form to tell everyone that he no longer needs to be flesh or to be vulnerable anymore. This is where Nebula makes her move; She quickly removes the Gauntlet from Thanos’ control and puts it on herself! She tells Thanos that she’s been dreaming for years about getting revenge on him and now it will happen. She unleashes a powerful blast on him and Terraxia, sending them into outer space. As Thanos is contemplating his defeat, he is quickly pulled through a portal into the company of Adam Warlock, Dr. Strange, and The Silver Surfer. Immediately, Thanos and The Surfer engage in battle, and it takes the reunited heroes via a teleportation spell from Dr. Strange, to stop them. Eventually, we see Warlock and Thanos discussing things privately. Warlock tells Thanos that subconsciously he has been letting himself be defeated. Thanos initially scoffs at this but after he thinks about it, he realizes this must be true. Thanos then agrees to become part of Warlock’s solution.

We see a few of Earth’s more powerful beings try to stop Nebula but it is just a distraction for the real fight; Thanos, Dr. Strange, and The Silver Surfer confront Nebula, first with words, then with action. They are unsuccessful though and wind up being put in their place, however they do manage to get Nebula to change the universe back to the way it was the day before all this came to be. In an instant the cosmic pantheon is released and begins to attack Nebula with an unbridled force. This war ends up sending Warlock and the Surfer on a trip inside the Soul Gem. As Nebula is pounding on the universal pantheon, we see Warlock wrestle control of the Soul Gem and in doing so, he is able to loosen Nebula’s grip on the rest of the Gems as well! As she loses control of the Infinity Gauntlet, we see Dr. Strange use a spell to try and keep Thanos from regaining possession of it. As he does this though, a huge fight breaks out against Thanos, but in the end the power is grasped by Adam Warlock!

Thanos then activates an explosive, but is smashed into space by Thor. Warlock then talks to Thor, Dr. Strange, and The Surfer about his new power; they seem to think he might be feeling a little god-like so they make a move towards him- but vanish into thin air just as quickly! After the dust settles, and everyone seems to think Thanos killed himself, we see Warlock, Gamora, and Pip take a trip to a planet to visit someone. Warlock knows that Thanos wouldn’t kill himself, but seeks his advice about having such supreme power. Thanos tells him he must endure or surrender the power, but naturally Warlock isn’t satisfied with those words, so Thanos echoes that he knew he wouldn’t be but it is what it is. Warlock then turns and walks away and Gamora and Pip think he should kill Thanos because of his treacherous nature. Warlock tells them that Thanos is a necessity for this universe and should live. We then see Thanos contemplating how maybe things worked out for the best in him losing the greatest power in the Universe, The Infinity Gauntlet!

I must say that Jim Starlin’s work in the cosmic realm is unmatched. Currently, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are running a very close second to Starlin in my opinion because of their work on Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. At the moment we have the Thanos Imperative going on and so far it seems to be great. This might put Abnett and Lanning right up there with Starlin if it keeps gaining momentum and ends with a huge bang!

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Couldn’t agree more about Starlin! I do like the new series with Thanos, but it’ll take a whole lot to top what Starlin did with the Infinity Gauntlet, as well as the story leading up to it, and the follow up, Infinity War, featuring the Magus.

I remember getting into this story because of the Ron Lim cover to the first issue and just me being a big fan of his work back then. Little did I know that I’d be reading one of the best works Starlin put out!